The End


Rae lifted her heavy lids, fixing her green-gold eyes on the man she hated. And loved, once, long long ago.

Aikake met her eyes, noting that the gold was weaving into her natural green.

"Not going to scream for help this time?" Aikake glided closer to her bedside.

Rae stared at the man, motionless.

"You look breathtaking with white hair, you know." He smoothed out a strand with his fingers, the moonlight reflecting off his katana and casting him in a dark shadow.

The contact made Rae jerk with surprise. Her eyes widened.

It's not a dream? It's real?

"Come with me, cupcake. I don't want to kill you. You know I really love you, you know that right?" Aikake bent down closer to her, a hand caressing her gaunt, pale face. "You're the only one I branded out of all of those women. Do you know why?"

Rae closed her eyes. This must be a nightmare. He came back to haunt her.

"Of course you do, my cupcake." Aikake breathed.

She knew.

She knew since the day he took her to his bed, and whispered sweet nothings to the vulnerable, innocent her.

"You're mine, mine only." Aikake stroked her hair, his gentle voice echoing in her mind like a hypnotising record.

"Come with me, cupcake, come. Let's go far, far away this time, no one will reach us, no one will break us apart again...we can forget all the things that happened all these years...we can start again..."

Aikake sent her a soft smile, staring deeply into her sorrowful eyes. "You don't have to share with all the others, you can have all of me to yourself. Isn't that great?"

No.

Rae blinked.

The sliver moonlight that seemed so mystical suddenly reminded her of the night where it sat above in the sky, watching silently, as Yura and her escaped, and the gunshots ringing in her ear. Each sound made her heart squeeze with pain.

Yura dying because of her.

Maiko being tortured because of her.

All her friends, dead, because of her.

Another flash of memory before her eyes—soldiers on the battlefield...Aikake on the very opposite...and...the soldiers writhing on the floor...begging for the scream—her—to stop.

Rae sucked in a deep breath as she remembered the night before. Killing, eating humans, and butchering thousands on the battlefield.

What have I done?

Aikake stepped back cautiously when he noticed the horrified expression on her face, lifing the katana slightly. His voice was still as tender as ever, convincing and calming. "Cupcake, it's not too late...look at me, my cupcake. I want to spend the rest of my life happily with you. I love you."

Rae focused her gaze onto the tall man that once controlled her like a puppet.

Aikake couldn't love. He was heartless. His "love" was a twisted sense of possessiveness, it wasn't the love that she craved since young. She had mistakenly believed his love for her to be true once, but now she knew the difference.

His love was selfish, but the love she wanted was a home for her soul.

"No." Rae's voice was hoarse.

The muted shadows turned ominous. The cold steel of the blade reflected off the sliver of moonlight.

"No?"

Rae could sense the underlying currents beneath his smooth voice, ready to sweep her away and drown her within its dark depths.

"Cupcake, what would you do on your own? You can't survive without me," Aikake purred, "I even threw everyone else that would disturb us away. I did everything for you."

"No." Rae's hoarse voice grated horribly as she raised her volume. "No."

Aikake's mellow gaze turned icy. "I don't want to kill you, cupcake."


The phone rang several times, but no one picked up.

Gintoki tried several other numbers, finally getting the call through. "Souichirou-kun. Are you not the police? How did you guys let him escape?"

"I'm busy, Danna. Stop calling me. And my name is Sougo."

"Shut up and explain, Song Joong Ki."

"Danna, that's a korean name. We weren't the guards for the prison Aikake was kept in. He escaped too easily, and his traces were all covered up expertly. We concluded that he had planned the escape, or else we would have found him by now. He must have others helping him outside. And my name is Sougo. We are searching Edo for him right now, I'm busy."

"Come to the hospital. He might come here, or someone under his command might come here. Either your gorilla commander or the nicotine addicted bastard or you would be fine." Gintoki ordered.

"Why would he visit you, Danna? I'm hanging up."

"He's not going to be visiting, he's going to eliminate someone. Come here immediately, Ryo Yoshizawa. Rae is in danger."
(A/N: Ryo Yoshizawa is the actor playing as Sougo in the live-action movie)

"Rae? The slav— "

"He killed off the other slaves, so there's only Rae left. Rae is the only remaining piece of evidence." Gintoki's voice darkened.

The phone call ended abruptly.

"Are they coming?" Tsukuyo asked quietly.

"Mm." Gintoki replied, "Let's go ask the hospital to allow us into Rae's hospital room. We need to keep her safe."


"Wh...where is everyone? Where...where did you bury them?" The swirl of gold in her eyes intensified.

"Bury?" Aikake smirked.

"Where...where are they? I want to see them...let me see them..."

"You don't need to see them, cupcake. They are dead. I killed them because they were becoming burdensome. But I love you, my cupcake. This is why I'm leaving you alive. Come with me. You don't need to worry about them." Aikake moved closer, shifting the katana to hide it from Rae's view, as if not seeing the blade would convince her of his love more.

He held out a hand to the woman now sitting upright on her bed, white hair spilling across her shoulders. Confusion in her gradually deepening gold eyes made his hand stop at a safe distance away from her.

"Where are they buried? Where did you leave them? Where...?" Rae asked, her thoughts a mess.

She wanted to tear her heart out and scream; she wanted to kill the man before her; she wanted to— she wanted to find the others and join them.

The beeping of the heart monitor rose very slightly.

"If you want to know, cupcake..." Aikake placed a careful hand onto her soft hair and bent down to her ear.

"I fed them to the dogs."


"The heart monitor has lost the signal! What is the nurse doing?" The counter was chaotic as nurses called for the doctors upon realizing the flat line that was moving across the monitor connected to Rae's heart.

"Hurry and check up on the patient in room 601! Bring the defibrillator! Get the..."

Gintoki lurched forward to the counter, grabbing a nurse by the arm. "What happened? What happened to Rae?!"

The Yorozuya, Tsukuyo, Tama, Hinowa and Otae had come out of the suite to ask for the doctors' permission to allow them to transfer to Rae's suite, only to be met by total chaos over Rae's non-existent heartbeat.

"We lost the signal to her heart— " The nurse started, but was cut off as the group of humans and 1 large dog sprinted for the stairs up to room 601.

Hinowa wheeled herself quickly to the elevator, praying for Rae's safety.

Rae's room was only a level above theirs. Gintoki kicked the stairway door open, his wooden sword already in his hand.

The 6th level was an entire suite, occupied by only Rae.

Muffled, strangled screams emanated from the soundproof room as Gintoki and the others neared the door. Tama hacked the electronic lock immediately, flinging the door open with her mop.

They stopped short at the doorway.

Rae's guttural screams assaulted their ears as they stared at the sickening scene, the blood staining her white hair red, and her kneeling over an unrecognizable mess of a human.

Rae lifted the broken lamp again and again, smashing it into the mess of flesh and blood where Aikake's head once was. Hatred lit her golden eyes, and she dug her claws into Aikake's chest, tearing and digging out everything in her reach. She pulled his heart from his chest, stabbing the heart repeatedly with a broken glass shard from the lamp.

The group watched from the doorway, too shocked to move.

They watched as she lifted the bent metal stand of the broken lamp, bringing it down towards the mutilated head of Aikake, splitting it open further, the insides spraying like an exploding watermelon.

And again,

and again.

Gintoki moved forward finally, catching Rae's arm that rose to hit Aikake's head that had already become little bits and pieces scattered across the floor.

"He's gone, Rae. He's dead. You can stop now." Gintoki told her softly, slowly prying the mangled metal away from her hand. "It's okay, he's dead...don't worry, we're here. You can let go now."

Rae fixed her golden eyes onto Gintoki's face, cold and murderous.

Breathing heavily, she looked down to her bloodied hands, then back to Gintoki and the others still standing at the door. Rae took a moment to connect the blood on her hands to the shredded body beneath her.

A choked sob came out as she frantically wiped her bloodied hands onto her hospital gown, trying to clean her hands of the blood.

Blood. Everywhere.

Rae gasped for air, tears welling up. "I...I killed him...I killed him..."

A bright smile suddenly lit up her bloodstained face. "I killed him."

But the smile was swept away immediately as she grabbed her head, bewildered gaze searching the room for something. "I shouldn't be happy...I shouldn't be happy...I'm a murderer...I killed Yura...I killed Maiko...I killed everyone...I shouldn't be happy...they are all dead. They are all dead...I need to find them...w— where are they? I need to find them. Where is Yura? I want Yura...I..."

Tsukuyo held in her own tears as she enveloped Rae in a hug.

"No...no...I..I need to join them...I need Yura!" Rae pushed Gintoki and Tsukuyo away, her eyes locked onto something underneath the hospital bed.

Gintoki lunged forward, grabbing the katana that Aikake dropped before Rae could get hold of it.

"Give it to me! GIVE IT TO ME!" Rae screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks, leaving streaks of pale skin through the blood that bathed her whole body. Her fingernails sharpened as she turned to Gintoki, pouncing towards him with an outstretched claw.

Gintoki braced for impact as he blocked with the katana and his bokuto, taking care not to face the sharp edge of the katana towards Rae.

But Rae stiffened centimeters away from him, her hand dropping to her side as her eyes rolled back into her head.

"Ah...thank goodness we managed to hit her with the tranquilizer."

Gintoki caught Rae in his arms, whipping his head towards the doorway.

Doctors and nurses crowded the door, all sorts of equipment on hand. They arrived right behind Gintoki and the others to see the blood-covered landscape, and had been stunned during the whole entire process. One doctor finally came to his senses when Rae attacked Gintoki, and aimed a tranquilizer gun at her.

"We'll transfer her to another suite...so we can clean up here— " The doctor speaking gagged at the bloodied room, "Excuse me..."

He ran off to the toilet.

"I'll bring you guys to wash up..." A nurse piped up, her pale sweating face indicating that she wanted to leave the crime scene as quickly as possible.

"No, no one's washing up as for now." Another familiar voice drawled.

"Sofa-kun." Gintoki sighed.

The First Captain of the Shinsengumi surveyed the red room with one raised eyebrow. Behind him, his division members were trying to hold their stomach from rebelling against them at the revolting scene. Sure, they had been on the battlefield and even took many other lives throughout their whole duration as a Shinsengumi member, but it was the first time that they had ever seen the inside of a human body in such detail, up close and personal. The lolling head of the nurse at the floor by the window just added to the element of horror.

To think that it was the shredded body on the floor was a man that stood at the top of the platform only yesterday on the battlefield, looking down upon them like ants.

"We came here to apprehend a criminal. Not some hamburger meat. And my name is Sougo, Danna." Okita splashed through the puddles of blood.

"Well then, what's done cannot be undone. I'm sure Mihoshi Rae won't get thrown in jail for this. He was on death row after all." Okita picked a small slab of meat that was still dripping blood off the floor with the tip of his katana. "We'll just send this to the lab to get it confirmed that it's Aikake's dead body."

"Thanks." Gintoki nodded at Okita.

"No problem. Here— catch it, China." Okita swung the piece of meat towards Kagura, who opened her umbrella immediately to block the bloody flesh.

"YOU DISGUSTING PRICK! Why the hell did you throw it towards me?! Give it to your stupid subordinates-aru!" Kagura roared, a shiver crawling down her spine at the thought of the dripping meat slapping onto her skin.

"Does it look like they would be able to carry this to the lab?" Okita looked pointedly at his men that had fled from the scene when the flesh was thrown.

"Then youcarry it-aru!"

"I don't want to. It's dirty."

"Go fuck yourself-aru. I'm not touching that shit."

"Kagura-chan!" Shinpachi hollered, reflex kicking in. "A young girl like you shouldn't be saying profanities!"

"You go fuck yourself too, Glasses!" Kagura retorted, "It's not like I say them very often!"

Hinowa cut in, "Now, now, let's not fight..."


[A month later]

The whole country rejoiced as Shigeshige awoke from his coma, the turmoil in court already smoothed out by Sadasada.

Edo had returned to its peaceful days.

The first female roju for unknown reasons had resigned a week after the war, and the seat was empty once again.

It was voluntary...as it seemed to the public.

The Yorozuya were money-grabbers, of course they wouldn't let go of that seat until they died. So after much persuasion— very threatening persuasion— by the Shogunate's Advisor, Tokugawa Sadasada, Kagura "voluntarily" quit.

On the day of the goodbye, Kagura's ex-private army wept at her feet, begging for her to stay and train them longer.

Soyo-hime giggled at the sight of the soldiers kneeling, weeping like their mother was the one that was leaving.

But Kagura at least got to keep the few modified china outfits that the seamstress had made for her.

In the hospital, Rae was woken from her medically-induced coma, as her body had repaired all the damage after the month of rest. Everyone, from the Princess to Catherine, came to visit her.

Rae opened her eyes to the large throng of people squished into her fairly spacious hospital suite.

"Mihoshi-san!"

"Rae-chan!"

Rae blinked, her golden eyes widening with surprise. She awoke from a month-long bonding time with her Siren— or rather, bonding time with herself— to a crowd of people that she wasn't very well acquainted with.

"H...hello..." Rae whispered, her voice small and tiny after a month of unuse.

"She's so cute..." A Shinsengumi member commented at Rae's shy face.

"Oh no, my friend, apparently she's really dangerous. Even the First Captain warned us not to go near her..." Another member nudged the previous one in the ribs. "You remember that woman who sang at the castle rooftop? That's her..."

"Rae, you remember me right?" Gintoki waved a hand in front of her face, "You better not get some stupid amnesia like those cliche stories."

Rae nodded. "I remember..."

"Alright! Everyone quiet down! There can only be 10 visitors at most in one time! Those useless ones please get out of the room! The patient is still in recovery and needs a quiet environment!" The doctor shooed the whole group of people out the double doors.

Only a handful stayed.

"Apparently Aikake still had a few people working for him, and the day the battle ended, he released a fireworks signal to signal for the people to prepare to break him out of prison." Hijikata bluntly cut to the chase. "Well, you won't be incarcerated because of his death. So you can rest well and not worry."

"I...Do you know where the other women that was kept in the mansion together with me are? H-he said...he didn't bury them..." Rae started and stopped, her chest tightening at the thought of her friends.

They weren't her friends initially. Or else she wouldn't have only escaped with Yura. But reminiscing on the times that they helped her, and the time they spent together locked up in the mansion with Aikake— she thought that she could call them friends now.

Although it was too late.

Kondo-san replied this time, "Most of them were..." He trailed off when Rae's face darkened with sorrow. Kondo cleared his throat and tried again. She must have known about it. "We found a few bodies that were spared, and we buried them at the Rakuen Cemetery."

The dark look on Rae's face passed, settling into a heavy sadness that hung around her. "Thank you."

The clock ticked softly in the silence. No one knew what to say to a person that just lost everything close to her—and even her reason to live. Even offering condolences would probably seem jarring to her now.

"You know, you can come work for the granny. Or you could even come to work with us." Gintoki offered.

"Thank you." Rae gave the silver-haired samurai a tired smile. "I will think about it."

"Just don't think about dying. We didn't race through the bastard's mansion to get yourself killed by your own hands in the end." Gintoki warned.

"I owe you my life, Gintoki-san." Rae slid out of bed gracefully, kneeling to the floor in a dogeza. "I owe all of you guys my life. I won't seek death anymore, I promise."

Tsukuyo walked forward to lift her off the floor and tuck her back into bed. "I should be the one apologising. I wanted to save all of them—but I wasn't able to." "

"No, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself, Tsukuyo-san." Rae shook her head, "Author-san is the one at fault here."

Author: Ey! Don't just push everything onto me! There were perfectly clear reasons why he kill—uh why he eliminated them! But it'll take a little long to explain so I'll explain at the end of the chapter.

"That's right! Author-san is the source of all these misery! I had to suffer listening to Kuriko-chan chatter away while I was locked up with her!" Kondo protested.

Author: Shut the hell up, gorilla gorilla gorilla! You got the good end of the schtick! Rae's the one who suffered the most here!

Hinowa sighed. "Author-san! Let's finish this story happily, shall we?"

Author: Ok.

-Author patches up the fourth wall-

Anyways, Rae recovered, she worked happily with the Yorozuya, she had a long emo period, always carrying the silver hair ornament that Yura gave her, and she felt like she finally found her real family, which was the Yorozuya! THE END!

"Oi, Author! Don't fuck around and end it properly!"

Who cares, you idiot, shut up.

"I can see all your narration you know?!"

"What about all those unsolved mysteries? Rae's eyes! Her time at Aikake's mansion! And what's goi—"

I'M VERY HAPPY TO HAVE SO MANY PEOPLE SUPPORT MY STORY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR WAITING FOR MY VERY LONG HIATUSES, EXTRA CHAPTERS ON YOUR FAVOURITE PAIRINGS COMING UP!

"OI! WHAT IS THIS BULLS—"


A/N: Yes! I finally finished the story! What a happy ending right? Here's the explanation I owed you guys for Aikake murdering the rest of the women.

You see, slavery is illegal right? It's a crime, and Shoguns can be criminals—as long as they never get found out. Staging a coup d état, Aikake was planning to win. Winning meant that he would only have the Hitotsubashi as a rival, and of course rivals do not go easy on each other. They would use any sort of leverage they get ahold of to kick each other out of the competition for the Shogun's seat. Aikake having human slaves and using them to bribe others was a leverage for the Hitotsubashi to use against him, to charge him of corruption and illegally keeping slaves, so killing them off was eliminating any leverage the Hitotsubashi could use against him. Also, even if he didn't win, and made his escape, the women were only burdens. They had been in the Aikake estate for so long, and many of them served his guests as they babbled about politics, so they have some information against him. To prevent important information from leaking to his enemies, again, killing them was for the best. He had no use for the women anymore, winning or losing the coup d état didn't make any impact on the fate of the women. They were meant to die.

That sounded very cruel, but yes. Politics in the past was very brutal.

If you guys have any unanswered questions or discovered more plot holes in my story, or maybe you guys want to know more about Rae's past, just comment. The chapters on Rae's past...I'll think about it...maybe I should just leave it to your imagination.